Although hundreds of students were invited by College Republicans and campus publication The Terrapin Times, just 14 students turned out to meet Republican lieutenant governor candidate Mary D. Kane.
Less than a month before election day, former Gov. Robert Ehrlich’s running mate came to College Park for the first time to meet with students, watch yesterday morning’s gubernatorial debate on a projector screen and hold a question-and-answer session in Stamp Student Union’s Atrium. But while College Republicans and The Terrapin Times collectively invited about 660 students to the event — both via listserv e-mails — only about 2 percent of the total number of invitees showed up.
Sarah Brown, a junior government and politics major, said she knew some students who missed the event because of campus Greek events and a political internship class, which ran at the same time.
The 14 who did attend — mostly members of College Republicans — were able to hear in person from the first Republican woman to serve as Maryland secretary of state, a position Kane held for about two years. Before that, Kane served as deputy secretary of state and chief legal counsel from 2003 to 2005. And during last night’s event, she introduced herself as an advocate of entrepeneruship and said she plans to build the private sector to create more jobs in the state.
Although Ehrlich and incumbent Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) clashed during the debate over education — O’Malley recently ended his four-year in-state tuition freeze, while Ehrlich raised tuition by about 40 percent during his term as governor — Kane chose not to mention the topic much last night, saying only that it’s K-12 education that needs the most attention and improvement.
Both gubernatorial candidates discussed tuition during the debate, criticizing the educational pitfalls of each other’s terms.
“What your [tuition] freeze has done is cause less Maryland kids to be admitted to Maryland schools,” said Ehrlich in the debate. “The freeze went on too long. It hurt our system.”
“Making college more affordable for more families is critically important. All those things the former governor cites — the dorm housing and dining — they went up when he was in office,” O’Malley said in response. “Now I watch those numbers very closely about how many students come from out-of-state and in-state and they have remained pretty constant.”
Jeffrey De Tora, executive vice president of College Republicans, said he could comment little on Kane’s campaign, but did mention a strong desire for Ehrlich to win.
“[Ehrlich has] been talking about O’Malley and how he’s going to freeze tuition for the past four years, but it has not been. Fees have been increased,” said DeCora. “Personally everything I know about [Ehrlich] I have no problems with.”
Just two students asked Kane a question after the debate during the question-and-answer part of the event.
“What will Ehrlich do to further not only the Chesapeake Bay, but the Maryland environment?” asked Joey Kalmin, a freshman government and politics major.
Kane acknowledged the lack of funding to the region and need for more jobs to preserve the Bay.
“There’s a a lot of work to be done there,” Kane said. “It’s the spine of the state. If that’s not healthy, the state is not.”
Kane praised students for showing interest in the political process and encouraged them to get involved with grassroots campaigning.
“It’s important for young people to get involved in politics,” Kane said. “You are the future of the state and the decisions now affect your future and you should be involved in those decisions.”
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